Parents and jobs, effect the mental health the most
One in three women in Australia with endometriosis has reportedly been passed over for promotion because they were trying to manage their symptoms consistent with new research. While one in six women reported being fired due to their attempts at managing their symptoms.
It is little wonder many Australian women are reluctant to boost the matter in their workplace.
The study was conducted by Southern Cross University’s National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine and Western Sydney University’s NICM Health Research Institute, and supported by Australia’s leading organisation for endometriosis research and education, Endometriosis Australia.
The national survey interviewed 389 women with a confirmed diagnosis of endometriosis and found that a scarcity of flexible arrangements about work times or work locations to manage their symptoms appropriately created hardships within the workplace for them.
The study, “ Endometriosis and thus the workplace lessons from Australia’s response to Coronovirus-19”, was published here and now within the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and included participants’ suggestions for companies to assist employees who have endometriosis, including functioning from home, the introduction of twenty-minute rest Menstruation, access to healthcare benefits and healthcare services like counselling, mindfulness or assisted exercise and access to physical aids (ergonomic chairs, heat packs, props).
Alexis Wolfe, CEO of Endometriosis Australia, believes these interventions are relatively simple to implement and might help make the workplace more endometriosis friendly.
“ because the Coronavirus-19 experience has shown, creating a more flexible workplace are often a win-win for both the employer and employee, making it easier for girls to manage their endometriosis, while also making them more productive and respectable employees,” she said during a statement.
“ The message is loud and clear, those with endometriosis are disadvantaged during a workplace that does not foster and support flexible working arrangements.”
“ Workplaces need to create safe, confidential, and supportive environments for workers to share their experiences and find a balance that works for both parties.”
Southern Cross University’s Professor of Public Health, Doctor Jon Wardle, said nearly all women with endometriosis within the study said their endometriosis had an enormous impact on their work life.
“ Nearly two-thirds of girls had to wish unpaid day off work to manage their endometriosis symptoms,” he said.
In Australia, further than, that is further than eleven per cent of women , girls, and other people who identify as gender diverse have endometriosis, a standard disease during which the tissue almost like the lining of the womb grows outside it in other parts of the body.
The illness frequently presents itself during nonage, and symptoms are variable, including pelvic pain, long Menstruation, painful bowel movements and nausea and vomiting.
The condition is reported to cost Australia $9.7 billion annually, with two-thirds of costs attributed to a loss in productivity and roughly $2.5 billion attributed to direct healthcare costs.
The study’s lead author, Dr Mike Armour, said that whilst Coronovirus-19 induced workplace changes were challenging, “ for girls with endometriosis they were also beneficial, with seventy-nine per cent of women with endometriosis reporting that Coronavirus-19 workplace changes had made the management of their endometriosis symptoms easier.”
The Senior Research Fellow at Western Sydney University’s NICM Health Research Institute and Chair of Endometriosis Australia Research Committee added that as a results of easier endometriosis management, “flexible working arrangements also made women with endometriosis more productive, with quite half women with endometriosis indicating that they were more productive as a results of Coronavirus-19 workplace changes.”
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, congratulated the researchers for highlighting the barriers exposed through their research.
“ That incontrovertible fact that an overwhelming majority of girls with endometriosis have benefited from the shift to functioning from home during the Coronavirus-19 epidemic could also be an important insight,” he said.
“ I hope that more Australian employers will use this research to assist support their employees who could even be affected by this terrible condition and to assist them to achieve their full potential in the workplace.”
SOURCE
https://womensagenda.com.au/life/health/1-in-6-women-lost-their-jobs-due-to-endometriosis/